You may think that Norwich Union is a very old company and you'd be right - the company was founded in 1798 by a 36-year-old wine merchant and banker, Thomas Bignold.
The company has an interesting history, taking a 50% in Virgin direct when it started in 1997, merging with CGU in 1998 to create CGNU and changing name to the more modern Aviva in 2002 but retaining the "Norwich Union" brand for it's insurance products.
The company operates in various countries now and is the biggest insurance group in the UK and the fifth largest insurer in the world.